“Lend Me a Tenor” at the Fire Hall Theatre

Continuing a 25-Year Tradition

Coincidentally, the same year that the Columbia Theatre opened a new era in local movie habits, the previously nomadic Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre finally found a permanent home after saving the historic fire station beside City Hall from demolition.

The newly-christened Fire Hall Theatre presented its first production in late April and May of 1983 with Lillian Hellman’s “The Children’s Hour,” and began its first official season in the Fire Hall building that fall.

Now, 25 years later, the thriving live theatre season in Grand Forks kicked off last week with the Fire Hall Theatre’s energetic and entertaining production of “Lend Me a Tenor.” Chris Berg directed the fast-paced adult comedy about a small Midwestern opera company’s trouble-plagued attempt to bring in a famous but temperamental and philandering Italian opera star for the title role of “Otello.”

The eight cast members all approach their roles with infectious gusto, with Dylan Croeker appropriately dominating his scenes as Tito Morelli and Michelle McCauley matching his intensity as his intense wife, Maria. Margaret McDonald is perfect as the harried opera manager Harriet, whose infatuated star-struck daughter Maggie is delightfully portrayed by Jesi Mullins.

Heath Stevenson, who often stole the show in last year’s “Damn Yankees” production at East Grand Forks Senior High School, holds his own against the slightly older, more experienced cast as Maggie’s long-suffering boyfriend and would-be singer, Max. While a bit uneven in the first act, by the second act he has warmed up, and carries off the split-second comic timing necessary after he must substitute for the indisposed star—both on stage and with his aggressive female admirers.

Rounding out the cast are Paige Greenwood as the ambitious and deliciously amorous local diva hoping to advance her career, Benjamin Klipfel as a persistent opera-loving bellhop, and Amy Lyste as the equally star-struck chair of the opera guild.

The play takes place entirely in the hotel suite of Morelli, with bitingly satiric theatre-oriented dialogue, lots of running in and out of doors, mistaken identity, and hilariously mistaken interpretations supplying almost non-stop humor.

The only disappointing drawback to the production, and it is relatively minor, is the resorting to lip-syncing to an opera recording for a first-act voice lesson, rather than having both Croeker and Stevenson sing their own parts.

If You Go

What: “Lend Me a Tenor”
Where: Fire Hall Theatre, GF
When: 7:30 nightly, October 16-17-18 and 23-24, plus a 2 pm matinee on Sunday, October 19.
How Much: $12 for students and $15 for adults.
Info: 701.746.0847, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)